Our Land

We share a five-acre hillside filled with oaks, pines, pepper trees, eucalyptus, and many other trees. Although sometimes the morning fog comes in from the coast, our climate is nearly perfect, with days usually in the 70s or 80s and cooler nights. Much of living can be done outside.

Our Common Spaces

Throughout the Lavra, we have small buildings that serve specific purposes.

Yoga Studio: Adjacent to the main house, we have a unique yoga studio, where we host weekly yoga, as well as have lectures, movie nights, and dance parties.

Art Studio: In the garden, we have an art studio whose view across the valley acts as our muse.

Fromagerie: Near the goat yard, we have a place for processing milk, making cheese, as well as beer and wine.

The Workshop. The Lavra wanted a creative space to build and construct. We built a unique indoor-outdoor space with a view to inspire so that together with the fromagerie and the Panama shed, we are creating a project playground.

Architecture Village: Just up the hill, we have a place for architecture projects, including a dangling sphere and ground hammocks.

Garden Chateau: The main garden holds an area that is being developed to house our volunteers.

Our Hermitages

Our vision seeks to include both private space we call hermitages and common spaces. The hermitages are the personal refuges of individual Lavra members or couples, who are responsible for their development and maintenance. They vary from rooms in the main house to various alternative buildings set amongst the trees.

The mushroom and the box at Peace, Love, Lavra 2013.

The kitchen in the main house.

Our Farm

The Lavra Farm aims to create a sanctuary for animals.

Goats

Currently we have four French Alpine goats: our matriarch Ivy, her troubled sister Sita (aka Pumpkin), Ivy's golden child, Poe, and Poe's golden child Anne-Sophie. We have been milking Ivy so as to make goat cheese in our fromagerie.

Chickens

We have a flock of happy chickens that provide us eggs and process our food scraps.

Pets

The Lavra is full of animals. From turtles in the Hen Oasis pond to wandering cats to the beautiful and smart Australian Shepherd-Border Collie mix Ryjo and the distinctive Pug Karl Attaturk Foucault de Lavra.

Our Garden

Plant life is abundant at the Lavra, with a diversity of trees, shrubs, and flowers throughout. Several people have their own personal vegetable gardens, though the main garden is a quarter-acre main garden surrounding the art studio. Paige, our prime garden whisperer, is inspired by various permaculture, organic, Hugokultur, and other ways of interacting with the land. We don't aim to be totally self-sufficient but we hope supply many of our fresh vegetables. It is always wonderful when our community meals come mainly from our garden.

Our Vineyard

Our vineyard attempts to give voice to the earth through the vines and eventually to the wine itself. It is comprised of about 1/3 of an acre of Grenache and Syrah planted in the Spring of 2015.